Plastic water containers may not be a good idea for storing water.

Veng68 · #1 09-01-2009, 04:38 AM

Anyone read this post on Bourneman's Forum over at Marine Depot Forums?

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic101230-9-1.aspx

Makes one think.

Cheers,
Vic

hillegom · #2 09-01-2009, 05:03 AM

OMG
Thanks. I was going to buy one of those containers.
Now I will be looking elsewhere.

banditpowdercoat · #3 09-01-2009, 05:59 AM

That's interesting

BUT, what intrigued me MORE is his saying of IO salt and Cyano?? Ive been batteling Cyano fro a year now, and use IO. Anyone else have thoughts on this???

hillegom · #4 09-01-2009, 06:03 AM

I use IO and have a bit of cyano, Related?
don't know.

PuffLuv · #5 09-01-2009, 06:37 AM

Definitely good to know! I also had no idea about the Instant Ocean either. I just bought a brand new pail, and now I'm thinking I should take it back for Reef Crystals...

...however, I think I need more info first...

jsmth321 · #6 09-01-2009, 11:20 AM

Glad I use a glass aquarium to mix water in.

Leah · #7 09-01-2009, 12:19 PM

I use IO in 4 seperate tanks 1 of which has had cyano but none of the others have so I
don't know. And I use garbage cans for all my water, this is why you have to love this hobby, Err! What to do?! LOL

mark · #8 09-01-2009, 01:50 PM

Didn't read the whole article in the link but did they test the water for contaminants (the containers actually leaching)?

As for IO, I had cyano when I started, but I'm still using IO and haven't had any for years. The outbreak I attribute more to just being a SW newbie; using tap water, over feeding, circulation just a few MJ1200 in a 75g, than the salt mix.

rayjay · #9 09-01-2009, 02:23 PM

I too use I.O. but I've had a running problem with cyano in just two of my eight salt water tanks. If it's I.O. based, why isn't the problem in all of the tanks?
In my 15+ yrs of the hobby, I've found a lot of blame misplaced on the forums by people assuming something has caused the problem without any scientific proof.
i.e. after doing "X", I had the problem of "Y", so "X" caused my "Y" problem.
I could do the same thing with my two cyano plagued tanks and say that sand beds are the cause because the two plagued tanks have sand beds and the others do not.
I'd be willing to bet that of all the I.O. used tanks out there, less than half have a cyano problem so the question is, why some and not others?
Next question, why do users of other salts have a certain percentage of their tanks plagued with cyano?
Possibly because I.O. is the most used salt, there are a greater number of I.O. used cyano tanks than other salt used cyano tanks, distorting the picture.
It's like when my customers ask me what van to purchase and when I replied, Caravan, they would say they have heard too many complaints about Caravans so they don't want them.
In fact, because there are so many Caravans on the road, like maybe as many Carvans as all the rest of the vans put together, then if 1% of them have problems, and you compare it to 1% of problem Windstars for instance, it would look like Windstar has a LOT fewer problems than a Caravan.

As far as the containers go, I don't use the Brute, but have 9-26g Rubbermaid Roughneck containers holding water and raising brine shrimp and rotifers and I use the water from them, plus the brine and rots grown in them, to raise H. Reidi seahorse fry that are smaller than an adult brine shrimp when they are born.
While they are definitely much larger than the more sensitive gametes, I have no concern about my use of the same water in my tanks, feeling that if the containers were a significant problem, I would also experience problems with the sensitive seahorse fry.

Ron99 · #10 09-01-2009, 04:00 PM

Did they wash the containers well before use? All plastics usually come from the factory with contaminants, mold release agents etc. You can get contamination from new powerheads or other plastic aquarium equipment if you don't wash it first. Just rinsing with RO water would not likely remove all the oily residues.

I would not think enough toxic chemicals would leach out of plastic in a short time such to cause the effects they saw unless it was from surface contaminants. Their reaction is alarmist and not based on any systematic determination of the cause of the problem. They should design a proper experiment to determine the source of any problem chemicals before making a generalized conclusion.